World No. 5 Zverev defeats fast-rising Marozsan to reach his second Miami Open semifinal
Before Thursday, the last time Alexander Zverev reached a Miami Open semifinal was in 2018, when the tournament was at the Crandon Park Tennis Center on Key Biscayne and he was 20.
That year, 6-6 Zverev advanced to the final and lost in the championship to 6-10 John Isner — two giant tennis players on a giant stage in the final title match ever played at Crandon Park.
On Thursday, in the same tournament but at a different venue, world No. 5 Zverev reached the Miami Open semifinal again, this time at Hard Rock Stadium. Zverev, the tournament’s No. 4 seed from Germany, defeated unseeded Fabian Marozsan of Hungary 6-3, 7-5 in 1 hour 37 minutes.
Marozsan, also tall at 6-4 and a slender 165 pounds compared to Zverev’s 198, came into the Miami Open ranked 57th but will rise to the top 40 on Monday after playing in his third ATP Tour quarterfinal. His 14-4 record in ATP Masters 1000 events, such as Miami, has impressed his ATP Tour competitors. The 24-year-old, playing in his first Miami Open, defeated seventh-ranked Holger Rune earlier this week for the third top-10 win of his career, then slayed No. 10 Alex de Minaur for his fourth top-10 win.
“Yeah, I mean if he continues playing like that,” Zverev said of Marozsan, “he’s going to rise up the rankings very quickly and he’s going to be one of those guys himself. You know, he always rushes us good players.
“All top players, when they’re in control, they feel like they can, you know, manage the match, manipulate the match a little bit in their own favor and against him that’s not possible. So I think that’s why he has such a great top-10 record. Yeah, he’s an unbelievable player.”
Marozsan seemed satisfied with his week, and said that Zverev told him after the match that if he continues “to play like this, which is very difficult and not easy to play on the highest level, I can be in the top 10 in the next few years maybe. I don’t know. This is still my first year on the ATP Tour. I just want to stay here and do more great results and play him again.
“He said, ‘Congrats Fabi, it was an amazing tournament for you.’’’
It also has been a great tournament for Zverev, who has not lost a set this week. Zverev, the former top-ranked junior, had a career-high No. 2 ranking in June 2022. He will meet in a Friday semifinal the winner of Thursday night’s match featuring second-ranked and No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and 12th-ranked Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria. Should Alcaraz advance, Friday would be Zverev’s second match this month against Alcaraz, who beat the German in the quarterfinals at Indian Wells.
Zverev has won five previous ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, his last at Cincinnati in 2021.
The other Friday semifinal — No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner vs. No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev — is a repeat of last year’s Miami Open Final.
“I love Miami,’’ Zverev said. “Obviously, I’m happy to be back at these kind of late stages of these tournaments playing the best players in the world. I think there are only those left and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Zverev was asked his memories of the 2018 final on Key Biscayne.
“It was the last match ever played at that venue so that was special,’’ he said. “But very different. There was really a South American vibe going on and it was kind of a party mood all the time. Especially night matches were extremely fun. The atmosphere was incredible.
“Here, Hard Rock Stadium is one of the biggest stadiums in the world, not for tennis, but generally speaking. A very new stadium, very modern. Obviously we have a lot more space here but I loved Key Biscayne. The atmosphere there was very special, very loud, very energetic.
“Hopefully it’s going to be good memories for me at both sites. I’m trying to build them here.”
Women’s semifinal
In an exciting first women’s semifinal Thursday, fourth-ranked Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan defeated 32nd-ranked Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (2) to reach Saturday’s championship match. Rybakina will face the winner of Thursday night’s other semifinal: 16th-ranked Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. No. 53 Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg.
